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STORY: :: JD Vance accepts VP nomination,

praises Trump and attacks Biden

:: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

:: July 17, 2024

:: JD Vance, Republican Vice Presidential Candidate

"I'm overwhelmed with gratitude to say I officially accept your nomination to be Vice President of the United States of America."

"I want all Americans to to go and watch the video of a would be assassin coming 1/4 of an inch from taking his life. Consider the lies they told you about Donald Trump, and then look at that photo of him defiant fist in the air when Donald Trump rose to his feet in that Pennsylvania field, all of America stood with him."

"They said he was a tyrant. They said he must be stopped at all costs. But how did he respond? He called for national unity, for national calm, literally right after an assassin nearly took his life."

"Now Joe Biden has been a politician in Washington for longer than I've been alive. 39 years old. Kamala Harris is not much further behind. For half a century, he's been the champion of every major policy initiative to make America weaker and poorer. And in four short years, Donald Trump reversed decades of betrayals inflicted by Joe Biden and the rest of the corrupt Washington insiders."

"Our movement is about single moms like mine, who struggled with money and addiction but never gave up. And I'm proud to say that tonight my mom is here 10 years, clean and sober. Love you, Mom."

In chronicling his hard scrabble journey from a difficult childhood to the U.S. Marines, Yale Law School, venture capitalism and the U.S. Senate, Vance, 39, introduced himself to Americans while using his story to argue he understands their everyday struggles.

He accused "career politicians" like President Joe Biden - who Vance noted has been in politics longer than he has been alive - of destroying communities like his with ill-fated trade policies and foreign wars.

In a sign of his potential value to the ticket, Vance also appealed to the working and middle classes in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin specifically - three Rust Belt swing states likely to decide the Nov. 5 election.

In his speech Vance described his grandmother, "Mamaw," who raised him while his mother struggled with addiction, and acknowledged his mother Beverly, who was on hand to watch him speak. "I am proud to say that tonight my mom is here, 10 years clean and sober," Vance said. "I love you, Mom." A visibly moved Beverly Vance mouthed, "I love you, J.D.," while delegates gave her a standing ovation.